Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney wants you to thank him

Calgary
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Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is receiving flack in the political sphere Tuesday after a petition appeared on his constituency website that asks you to thank him for making changes to the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP).

On Monday, a petition to support changes to the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) was posted. In April, Citizenship and Immigration Canada announced reforms to the federal program that provides temporary health care benefits for refugees, including dentistry, vision care and mobility assistive devices. These reforms were instituted to meet the nation’s economic needs and to not force Canadians to pay more for benefits that they do not even receive.

These changes are expected to save the federal government approximately $100 million over the next five years.

“We, the undersigned, thank Jason Kenney for his efforts to streamline benefits afforded to refugees claimants under the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) and bring them in line with the benefits received by tax-paying Canadians, including new Canadians. We don’t think that smuggled migrants and bogus asylum claimants should be getting better health care benefits than Canadian seniors and taxpayers,” the petition stated.

“That is why we support Jason Kenney and his efforts to cut down on this abuse and to make sure that it is Canadian taxpayers that are the primary people benefiting from Canadian healthcare.”

Alexis Pavlich, Kenney’s spokesperson, told the Calgary Herald in an email that the petition has been active for several weeks already and has been signed by thousands of Canadians. Pavlich reiterated the petition’s copy.

The petition has been mocked on social media outlets. Steve Murray, columnist and cartoonist for the National Post, made an edit to the petition that can be found here.

Kenney has made the headlines for the past couple of months, including a new ban on sex trade industry businesses hiring foreign workers and for calling Alberta Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk an “a—hole.”